A bottle filling line is essentially a production line that is used to fill a product into a bottle. This usually happens at a large scale and there are many similar processes, few are listed here:
- Cream filling line
- Tube filling line
- Vial filling and bunging line
- Powder filling line.
A bottle filling line is useful for filling beverages, sauces, syrups, oils etc. This type of process typically includes filling the product into a bottle from a holding tank with the help of a filling machine. The production line will also consist of a labelling machine prior to which it will be capped. Custom labels are designed for a labelling machine and they are then later packed into cases or cartons.
Trends of filling machines
A filling machine system has come a long way and is constantly evolving. It is vital to many different industries like petroleum filling, pharmaceuticals, detergent filling and many more. Here are some of the new trends:
- Efficiency of these machines is one the rise.
- With advancement of technology, there is now a greater use of technology in filling machines.
- There has also been a lot of advancement in the field of robotics and automation, which is also being implemented in filling line machines.
- Amongst the functions that can now be operated by robot via a touch point panel include process of Depalletizing, unpacking, packaging (from primary to secondary and tertiary).
- It is necessary to have an inspection of the material prior to the filling process and a second inspection at the end of the filling process. This process was being handled manually so far, however, due to the implementation of new technology this process is now being automated as well. The process of quality control is also witnessing a lot of changes with a higher degree of automation thus reduce the human interaction required in the process.
- A higher degree of automation in the process of packaging and processing also results in improved efficiency.
- The machines these days have an ability to handle a larger number of functions since they are becoming more versatile.
- These machines are like to have higher flexibility in terms of the product and type of label and provides high throughput and ensure greater efficiency.
- Machines now have a capability to handle many different size and shape containers hence the additional add-ons that were required in the past may longer be needed.
- The machines are beginning to become more modulator as a result of which they are easier to repair and are more reliable. Thus for example, if one module fails there is no need to stop the packaging process. One will be able to simply replace relevant module and carry on with the operation as normal.
- A large number of small vendors offer such services, however as per the current trend, larger businesses are taking over many of the smaller businesses to form one large bottle filling line business.
- When bottling a product like beer, which has a tendency to foam, the gentle filling is paramount. Breweries want to limit the amount of oxygen picked up by the beer as much as possible during the filling process, but also want to maximize throughput. The filling valve is equipped with two different filling speeds so that a gentle filling process with low turbulence and less foaming behaviour.”
- The need to increase accuracy and minimize changeover time is also receiving a lot of attention and is likely to improve further in future designs. The servo motor plays a big role in controlling the flow and improving the filters, filler bowl and valves design is key to minimizing changeover time.
Thus, the current trend suggests there is likely to be plenty of improvements and a high level of automation in these machines.
